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27 November 2016

How To Stay Soft in a Harsh World 02 // Consider the Flowers

Or some thoughts related to the appreciation of flowers. ...Because, and this belief is my whole, ol' heart: TO REMAIN SOFT, IMITATE SOFTNESS. Discard the other parts of the world for a moment, imitate the soft & gentle things alone. Slowly, this feeling will take you over, replacing the hardened, performative, tired parts. And flowers...flowers are a lovely place to start...

~ Buy or otherwise find yourself a bouquet.

~ Spread them about in lots of tiny vessels everyplace.

~ Close your eyes and smell them, deeply. Name the smells. Like, rose, for certain, but what else? Dewey earth, early dawn, birdsong, book pages, wintertime?

~ Photograph your flowers. Keep a collection of flower photographs, printed, in an old album (also floral) that you thrifted. Label it, "Flowers I Have Met" or whatever you like but surely give it a name.

~Dry your flowers, and...

~Twist them in velvet ribbons & stream them around. Tiny wispy bouquets. Garland. Pressed in pages. A nature journal. In frames on the walls. Loose petals in a jar. Loose petals in letters to friends.

~Learn about flowers. Pick a flower, learn a tiny bit about it, be a little like that flower for a day. Be rose or lavender or baby's breath...

~ Don't discount the faux ones either...remember only that flowers were so beautiful, it made someone pause, "could I make this last forever?" And thus it was. Make flower crowns or tuck them in books or hang them with ribbon or anything in the world that makes you smile.

~Remember flowers bloom off roots and stems which are knobby, gangly things, and we all have roots and stems but we all have flowers, too, but becoming them takes patience & a lot of attention and love.

~Forgive like a flower. They are always rebirthing.

~And, like a flower, bend toward the bright spots.

~Because you have seen a flower, you can smell their fragrance & see them. Rose oil on the cheeks, perfume on the neck & wrists, bubbles in the bath, soap, sachets in the drawers. You can have them everywhere, everywhere.

~ Gaze at pictures of flowers, here are some.~Believe like flowers. Don't get so caught up in wondering your worth that you forget how beautiful you are, how you will bloom and bloom again, always. ~Believe that by inspiring others, or being a bit more soft or beautiful in your ways...you will help others to do the same, just as flowers embody the need for a bit of excessive, frivolous beauty. ~And always bring flowers wherever you go, to whomever you meet, remembering as an old Chinese proverb says, "A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers."